Human Eyes
by The Smiling Shadow
Summary: It is the hours where Bane is still Bane, as he lies on his bed, dying, with an Agent named Smith taking over his mind and body slowly. Memories of the Smith's and his are colliding, and he is forgetting who he once was. He can see Smith's memories, see


Human Eyes

They told him he would be all right. They said he just needed rest. Just stay in bed…Stay asleep, pretend as if he was in the red pod again. Stay asleep, and dream. They told him something was wrong with him, and he just needed rest. They told him everything would be okay. He just needed to heal…His head just needed to heal. He hit his head. Or…someone hit his head…or someone, something was in his head. Or maybe…Maybe he just lost his head.

His name was once Joshua Davis, he had a job in computers, and was the life of the party. He was a curious man, a deep man behind the class clown smile. And one day he come upon a question, "What is the Matrix?"

Now Joshua Davis is Bane.

And Bane is lying in his bed, some IV plugged into his arm through one of the many plugs given to him by the machines. He's been asleep for an hour now, falling to his knees when he jacked out earlier that day. He just…fell to his knees, curling up into a little ball. Malachi was with him, and Malachi said Agents were chasing them, a lot of Agents. Maybe the Agents hit him in the head. Maybe…

Outside Bane's cold and metal quarters within the ship, crewmates are pacing back and forth. Captain Ballard asks again what happened, and Malachi doesn't know, everything was fine with him, they made it out, no one was hurt…was it something he did?

Something happened….

And inside Bane sleeps still. And somewhere inside him, there is someone waiting for him to wake up. But still Bane sleeps, seeing images his mind projects at a subconscious level, called a dream. He sees himself, back in the Matrix. He sees himself running, and he stands still, not very interested in what is happening. Then there are men in suits, and they are standing next to him.

He sees things he has never seen before, but feels as if he has seen them a dozen times. He feels nothing as he reaches for his Desert Eagle gun, ready to fire. Ready to shoot his running shelf.

"Wake up, Bane…"

Bane awakes, staring up at his ceiling for a moment. He doesn't move for a moment, he doesn't know how. He forgets how to move his arms, to raise his head, and to move his legs to begin to walk. He just lies there, helpless in moment. He can see the IV plugged into his arm, and reaches over to take it out.

Then he sighs, and lays helpless again on the bed.

Where am I? A question rings in his head, but no answer seems to come. He looks around at the rusting metals that make up the walls. The cold begins to set, and he shivers in an instance. He breathes deeply, his eyes shifting again. This place, this cold and horrible place. This is horrible. This place is dying from the inside out. Decaying under time. Where is he?

"Bane." He whispers.

My. Name. Is. Bane.

The man named Bane sits up, looking at the IV in his arm. The cold room begins to spin, and he shakes his head. His body aches, he feels a bruise across spread across his chest. He raises his shirt to see bandages wrapped all around his chest, still cuts can be seen. He puts his hand over his ears.

"Bane." He reminds himself, nodding to himself. "Bane."

"Bane." Someone echoes.

Bane gasps, feeling something behind him. A hand reaching for him…a voice calling him…anything, but he turns to see nothing. He gulps as he shakes his head around, searching this cold place. This blue world. This place that is real.

For a moment Bane has no idea where he is, or what has happened to him. He is an empty shell, a face with a name, but without any history. There is no memories to visit, no laughs he can recall. He just is. He has been, he knows this. He is Bane, that is all. He does not recognize this place as his home. He does not see it as real or unreal, he just sees it as it is, just as he is. This cold and horrible place. Cold and empty just like he is right now.

"Bane." He nods to himself again.

He hunches over in his bed, folding into a ball again. His ice blue eyes pierce throughout the empty space of this cold place. He scans it up and down, notes the rust at the ceiling.

Then something returns to his head.

"Welcome to the Real World." He whispers.

Yes…this is real, he reminds himself. There is a place…a place called the Matrix, where things are not real…where machines are using them…but this place, this cold and horrible place is real.

"Welcome to the Real World." He says again.

"Thank you."

Bane gasps again looking all around him, looking for the source of this voice. But there is no one here. Nothing. Just him.

He gathers to the strength to get up from his bed.

Memories are coming back. A life he knew is coming to him, his life. Or…a life at least.

He stumbles towards the restroom, grabbing on the doorway for support. He reaches for the sink, tripping on his way towards the mirror. Where he stares at his reflection, and a part of him is seeing his face for the first time. He breathes deeply, staring at himself, and sliding his hand down the reflective glass.

"Hello, Bane." A voice says.

"Whose there?"

Bane clumsily jumps back, knocking over some bottles of what could be soap. He starts gasping for air as he trips onto the dirty and gritty metal ground. He feebly crawls back into a dark corner. Weak hands grab for safety, and ice blue eyes cower in fear.

"Where are you?" Bane yells.

Silence.

"Where are you?"

"Right here." The voice answers.

"Where? …Who are you?"

"Do not ask questions, you already know the answers to, Bane."

"No! Get away from me!"

"No, Bane…. It is your time to leave."

Bane is shaking his head at a voice that contains no body. He runs towards his door, towards the outside where he knows there are people. Malachi, yes Malachi and everyone else will be there, they'll save him.

"Where do you think you are going? You cannot escape me like this." The voice says.

Bane freezes, and slowly backs away from the door. Slowly and steadily he makes his way back to the bed. He sits down on the hard mattress, hunched over he stares at the floor, gripping his sheets.

"You're the Agent, aren't you?" Bane whispers.

"No, no…not anymore."

"Then who are you?"

He fears the answers that he knows will come.

"My name is Smith." The voice says.

"Smith?"

"I am inside your mind, Bane."

The ominous voice of an Agent named Smith speaks of a horror only Bane will ever experience. And this Agent Smith sounds as if he could care less. Bane is unmoving, refusing to acknowledge whoever this Smith is just said. Refusing to believe that there's someone inside him, inside his mind.

"I've gone insane…" Bane whispers.

Bane is falling. He fell from sanity. He's falling, falling so fast. It's all leaving him now, passing him by as he falls. Every memory it's falling out of reach now. He's falling, falling. And he fell into bed. He stares now, up at the cold ceiling, up at the sky that is not really there.

"What's happening to me?" Bane asks.

"The process has slowed." Says the voice.

"Shut up." Bane shakes his head. "Please…just go away."

"The process has slowed, Bane. This is how it begins. My coding enters another vessel, and begins infecting it." Smith continues.

"Go away."

"Once my coding has entered the vessel it begins to transfer its data onto the vessel's coding. It literally changes the vessel's coding into my own. Thus a copy is made."

"Go away!"

"Usually such a thing takes mere moments. But because of the…jack out from the Matrix, it has been delayed."

"Go away!"

"During such moments within the Matrix when this happens many things occur. Memories are changed, and shells are rearranged. I suppose here that does not matter though."

Bane is then silenced by his own mind. He only now stares up at the ceiling, realizing what has just been told to him.

"Who are you?" Bane asks.

"I am Smith. I am you."

"What's going to happen to me?"

"You're going to die, Bane. Your body shall live on as my own. You mind will die, and be replaced with mine."

"No…please…."

lllllllllllllllllll.

"What do you want…with my body?"

He can't move anymore. He doesn't know weather it is due to the fact that he has forgotten how, or if he just doesn't want to, of if Smith doesn't want to. He lies flat on his back, Smith's back…their back, looking up at the ceiling still.

It's been two hours.

He's going to die soon, and he's found that there is nothing he can do. He's tried. He's tried to move. He wants to go out through that door, and he wants to tell the others to kill him. He wants to die before whoever is inside him can kill him. He wants it to end here before it is too late. But he can't. He's been trying, but he can't move. He can't move a muscle.

"Do you believe in The One, Bane?" Smith asks.

"…Yes. I believe in Neo. I've always believed in the prophecy…I always wanted to see the future Neo would bring…." Bane answers.

"I'm going to kill Neo. I'm going to kill him like he killed me. And I'm going to use this body to kill him here, where he is just…like everyone else. A weak and flawed creature, with skin so fragile."

"No…please don't…."

"I have to, Bane."

"No…."

Bane now whispers, for he can't find the strength to scream for help. He's falling still. Still falling now.

"You're doing this aren't you? You're why I can't move." Bane says.

"Yes." Smith answers. "Soon I will have complete control of your body."

"Smith…." Bane is begging.

He could go on, and plead for his life. He could go on and on, he could try and fight it. But he know such things would be futile, and only a waste for the last hours of his life. He can't move anymore, but he knows it, he can feel it, the strength of this Smith. He could plea, but he can feel it too, this Smith knows no mercy.

He's going to die now. As soon as he hits the ground, he's falling, the ground is coming.

He can't move, so he closes his eyes, and he remembers what has happened. But even then it is difficult. Already Smith is taking over his mind as well. He knows it, he can feel it, like a ghost in his head, hiding and waiting for him to die. Already the memories are fading, and he's forgetting. But then in the horror of forgetting, he forgets that he has forgotten, and he returns to dying.

It's falling away now. All of it.

Inside him is a program named Smith that is taking over. The memories are shifting and changing. He tries to recall the life he once had in the Matrix. When he was a boy and nearly drowned in the river at his stepfather's house. He's trying to remember the lovely Alice, who was his first girlfriend at the age of fourteen. Trying to remember the computer that made Alice leave him. Trying to remember the question that ended him here.

But he can't….

He's forgetting it all already. He is losing himself, turning into this other thing. He's dying now. Bane is dying. All that was Bane, and all that will be Bane is dying now.

Then he feels something touching his face. He opens his eyes and sees his own hands feeling his face. But he can't stop them.

"Amazing…" Smith whispers.

"Smith?" Bane asks.

"I have never felt such a thing…a real human face. Here, in this reality." Smith says, seemingly dazed.

"Smith?" Bane says again.

"We have never entered the Real World. We have never felt anything real, with real hands. Not even…the original."

Bane watches his hands as if he's watching the television. As if those really weren't his hands, but someone else's. He can't feel them, he can't move them. He watches them as they wander under Smith's control. The hands wave blindly around, searching for anything to grab onto. Then they find Bane's cotton shirt, and Smith gasps.

"It's…soft." Smith said.

The hands find their way to cold wall.

"Hard." Smith says.

"Smith…stop it…. Those are my hands…their mine!" Bane yells.

The hands search again for something else to grab onto.

"Please, Smith! Please stop it! Stop it!" Bane yells.

But Smith doesn't, as the hands begin to shiver uncontrollably, and suddenly they fall back down onto the bed, as dead weight.

"Amazing." Smith says again.

Bane tries to move but he still can't.

So he just closes his eyes, and goes back as far as he can in his memories. Back to when he was twenty-six, and he was freed. He tries to remember anything before then…but there's only darkness.

"Who was Michelle?" Smith asks.

"Who?" Bane asks.

"She lies within your mind. A memory of a woman named Michelle. She is…beautiful." Smith says.

"I don't know any Michelle…" Bane says fearfully.

"She has blue eyes…like me…like you." Smith says.

"Smith, I don't know any Michelle!"

"Then her memory has left you already." Smith says. "Michelle says she loves you, Bane."

"But I don't remember her!"

"She says she'll always love you."

"Who is she?"

Memories are leaving.

"Her memory is mine now, Bane. You've forgotten her. She's mine now." Smith says.

But he couldn't remember…

And he can't remember much anymore.

Memories are flashing by, too quickly for him to ever see quickly. They're all flashing by now. A whirlwind of memories, two lives are colliding. Then it happens. Smith has seen nearly four centuries, and all those memories have entered Bane's mind. But he can't tell if their his or not. A horrific sight of a woman named Michelle dead on the floor, and a man in a suit is running after him. A man named Neo is giving him the finger. A man named Morpheus is keeping away the key to freedom. His father is calling him home. The Architect has completed his Agent programs. Alice is smiling. Brown is smiling for some reason. Someone is dying, a person without a face.

Lives are going by, as he's falling.

"Are these your memories?" Bane asks.

"You can see mine now? I suppose that is normal, I can see yours."

"Mr. Anderson…." Bane whispers.

I hate you, Neo.

No! No…I believe in you Neo. I hate you! Die, damn you! Just die! Just stay dead! No! Neo, save me! Come save me! Come to me, Neo! Come to me so I can strangle you! Come to me so I can choke the life right out of you! No, Neo, I didn't mean it. Neo save me! Save the world! My messiah! The Messiah has come! The Messiah will die! Stay dead, damn you! Stay dead, go in the ground, stay out of the sky, Neo! Don't fly away, Neo! Fly away! Get away from me, Neo! Run away! Die and get away, Neo! I hate you! Die, die, die, die, die, die, die! No! Neo, save my soul!

I love you, Neo.

Please, don't go…stay here, with me…so that I can kill you!

"Neo…" Bane whispers.

"Mr. Anderson." Smith corrects.

"He's caused you pain…"

Die, Mr. Anderson!

Two lives are colliding now, and he can't separate his own from Smith's now. No longer able to move, no longer able to cry out for help, he just lies there, and slowly dies. He can't remember anymore… It's…leaving him.

"I can see now." Smith says. "I can see through your eyes, Bane. This place…I…We've never seen anything like this before."

Die Neo!

It's leaving him now. He can see it. He can see his own life, and four centuries of a life go by in a second. All of the memories, all them colliding, forming into one, fighting for survival. They're killing each other. He can't remember…

He can't remember…Where is he? What was he doing?

"Bane, this is…" Smith begins.

"My name is, Mr. Davis." Bane says.

For a moment Smith is silent.

"Yes." Smith says. "Mr. Davis."

There was something important he was supposed to remember. Something very, very important, but he can't remember anymore. He's trying to recall it…trying to grasp it…. Wait…what was he doing? He was going to do…something…with something…and then…something….

"I can't…remember anymore." Bane whispers.

"No, you can't. You're becoming me now, Bane."

Bane begins shaking. Four centuries are now clearly revealed to him, like he's watching a movie…a horrible, horrible movie. He can see it. A machine like Smith will never forget a moment of his existence, and that is all revealed to Bane now. Four centuries of nothing but misery and pain. Agony. Kill, kill, kill. Fight, fight, fight. Get the gun, fire, fire, fire. Make sure they're dead. That's all. Oh, god the smells! Everywhere, choking him to death…it hurts…please stop it…

Four centuries of Smith's life, and every moment filled with the greatest despair never able to ever be felt by anything human.

"It hurts!" Bane cries out, as loud as he can.

Four centuries. Agony. Pain. Defeat. Death. Despair. Anger. Hatred.

"Make it stop!" Bane yells.

Then he's alone. Somewhere in the void that has become his empty mind, he's crawling. He's crawling on the floor with tears in his eyes. Then Smith comes to him and stands above him, a man in a perfectly black suit and reflecting sunglasses. Beautiful if not horrifying.

"Hello, Bane." Smith says.

"This…this—this is your life isn't it!" Bane screams. "Oh, God. Make it stop! Make it stop, God, please, make it stop! It hurts, it hurts!"

Bane is on his knees, grabbing at the feet of Smith, crying, and coughing up blood.

"You have seen just now, Bane, what no human eyes have never seen before. My entire existence, through my eyes. No human eyes have ever seen such a thing, not even Neo." Smith bends down to Bane.

"Neo! Neo! I hate Neo!" Bane yells. "Kill him! Kill him, Smith because I cannot!"

"No, Bane. Those are my intentions. Not yours. Remember? You believe in The One." Smith says.

"Kill him, Smith!" Bane yells. "I hate him! I hate him, he's the one doing this! He's why it hurts so much! God make it stop, Smith! Kill him! That will make the pain stop! Please, make it stop!"

"Oh, Bane. No human eyes…" Smith says.

"It hurts so much! How can…how can you stand it?"

Smith stands up now, reaching for his gun.

"I can make it end here, Bane. I can kill you now. Your mind will die now, and I shall have your body." Smith says.

"Kill me…make it stop…kill me…"

"You have shown me so much, Bane. Memories I have never known. I can feel, I can see, I remember a woman named Michelle. If you wish to take comfort in any of this, know that because of these memories you and I now share, I suppose there is now a part of you inside me. The mere act of this is evidence enough there is a part of you inside me. Making me show you some short of mercy and pity, and…some thankfulness. Unlike my connection with Neo, I do not resent it." Smith says. "And for that I thank you. I will go kill Neo now. Goodbye, Bane."

Smith puts his gun to Bane's head, and fires

lllllllllllllllllll.

"Bane! Bane wake up! Hey man, you okay! Lunchtime, Bane. Come on, I know you hate the shit they give us…but come on, Bane. Wake up."

Malachi is shaking Bane's body, and Bane's eyes open.

"Hello, Malachi." Bane's voice says.

"Man, you scared the shit out of me today! Are you okay?"

"I've never felt more…alive."

Bane fell. He hit the ground. He's dead now.


End file.
